Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Happy New Years (a few days early)! Since 2013 is just around the corner, its time you get your lucky black-eyed pea recipe on the menu for Monday night!

This recipe was given to me by one of my neighbors. As you know, I write a monthly Resident Recipe column for our neighborhood, and this one was featured in our December 2012 magazine. Here’s the article:

Shelley was never a huge fan of black-eyed peas, but when you live in the south, you don’t have much choice. Eating black-eyed peas on New Years Day is good luck and is supposed to bring prosperity.

Shelley’s salad takes regular canned black-eyed peas to the next level. She makes this salad every New Years Day, and people who say they don’t like black-eyed peas LOVE this salad! 

Lucky Black-Eyed Peas
Ingredients
MUSTARD HONEY VINAIGRETTE
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp. honey
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. tabasco sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
Fresh milled pepper
3/4 cup vegetable oil

SALAD
2 (14 oz.) cans black-eyed peas, drained
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced celery
1 red pepper – 1/2″ diced cubes
1 yellow pepper – 1/2″ diced cubes
2/3 cup chopped red onion
2/3 cup chopped parsley

Directions
1. Prepare Honey Mustard Vinaigrette: Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, Tabasco, garlic and pepper. Whisk in the vegetable oil. (It can be made a day in advance.)
2. Prepare Salad: Mix salad ingredients and gently toss with vinaigrette. Refrigerate 1-4 hours.
3. Add parsley just before serving, reserving a little to sprinkle on top for garnish.

*Note: Can be served on a bed of greens for decoration. Salad tastes better the next day.

Yield: 4-6 servings
Recipe from: my neighbor, Shelley

Beat the dough in a stand mixer.

Split the dough in half.

Wrap dough and chill for 2 hours.

Roll dough into 1/4 inch thickness.  Bake for 9-11 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Cool completely.

Decorate the cookies…snowmen in our case!

Add the snowmen’s hats.

Decorate Christmas tree cookies.

Christmas trees, snowmen, gingerbread men and angels!

ALL-OCCASION SUGAR COOKIES
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 stick plus 2 Tbsp. (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.
2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated – because the dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy, and malleable.
4. Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage (about 2 inches in diameter) and wrap in plastic. Chill dough for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months).

Getting ready to Bake:
1. Center rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
2. If you are making roll out cookies, working with one packet of dough at at time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies. Pull away the excess dough, saving scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the cutout cookies onto the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies. (This is soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) After you’ve rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.
3. If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into 1/4-inch thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies.
4. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you’d like. Lest them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.

Yield: about 50 (2-inch) cookies
Recipe from: Brown Eyed Baker

ROYAL ICING
Ingredients
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. meringue powder
6 Tbsp. water
Food coloring

Directions
Mix all ingredients on low speed for 7-10 minutes or until the icing loses its shine. Add more water by the teaspoon if it appears to stiff. At this stage you want to be able to pipe it easily.

Recipe from: Brown Eyed Baker